Daily Dose of Cute

As I've mentioned before, Dudley loves the fuck out of this huge grass bush in the garden. Every time he goes outside, he's got to rub himself all up in it, even though he's got a grass allergy. Basically, the thinking seems to be: "I love this bush! My eyes are itchy! This bush feels scratchy and good on my itchy eyes! I love this bush! My eyes are itchy! This bush feels scratchy and good on my itchy eyes! I love this bush!"

He's also recently added sliding along the chain-link fence to the routine. "Ooh, this fence feels good, too! But not as much as the bush! Gosh, I love this bush! Boy, my eyes are itchy! Well, at least this fence is here! But it's not as good as the bush!"

I cannot dissuade him. I give him his allergy medication and let him carry on his love affair with his unrecognized nemesis.

Video Description: Dudley walks face-first into a large grass bush. He rubs his face in it, then rubs his eyes with his paw. He looks at me and grins, then walks around the bush, back into it, through it, and to the fence, where he commences to rub his face along the fence as he walks alongside it. He turns around and walks back the other way, rubbing the other side of his face. He flaps his ears, then walks right back into the grass bush. Rubs his eyes. Back to the fence, grinning and tail wagging. Walks around the far side of the bush. Rub rub rub. To the fence. Rub rub rub. Rinse and repeat forever.


"What?"

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Photographer Zanele Muholi's Work Stolen

[Content Note: Theft; homophobia; misogyny; racism; eliminationism.]

I cannot even imagine the feelings of loss and anger and insecurity having five years of work stolen would cause me. This story is heart-wrenching:

An award winning photographer who has devoted her working life to documenting the lives of black lesbians has had five years worth of her work stolen.

Zanele Muholi, described by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa as "one of the country's foremost artists", had more than 20 external hard drives stolen from her flat in Vredehoek, Cape Town on April 20.

The hard drives contain stills and video footage, including photos from the funerals of victims of homophobic hate crimes. It is thought that the burglars were targeting Muholi's work, as little else was taken from her flat, and back up hard drives were also taken.

Muholi's partner Liesl Theron, with whom she shares the flat, said that her possessions were left untouched, except for a laptop which was stolen, further fuelling belief that Muholi was the intended target of the crime.

The work taken had been captured across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Malawi, according to the Cape Times. Also stolen was work due to be shown at an exhibition in July, which Muholi believes she will now have to cancel.

Despite the volume of work stolen and the imminence of the planned exhibition, Muholi's plight has been largely ignored by the media. It is believed that the lack of publicity is due to the nature of her work, which shows a different side to the black lesbian community than that usually represented in the mainstream media.

"I'm not myself. I can't even sleep at night since I've heard about the burglary," the devastated Muholi told DIVA. She has appealed for anyone who knows the whereabouts of the hard drives to return them.

The investigation into the theft is ongoing. A fundraiser to replace her equipment and help with other expenses is here.

I don't even know what else to say about this crime, other than to express my profound sadness that there are people in the world who so object to human diversity that they are moved to quash its celebration with physical and/or psychological violence.

It's rather terrible this story is not getting more notice, because it appears so pointedly eliminationist in nature. Someone hates black lesbians so thoroughly that zie literally disappeared images of them. That seems worth a moment of contemplation, seems to me.

[Thanks to Shakers jjdactyl and Monika for passing this along.]

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Q: How cheap am I?

A: So cheap that I just taped up the broken handle of a Swiffer mop.


Also so cheap that, even though the thing is now a total pain in the ass to use, I will not pay to replace it until I literally can't use it at all, lol.

"Cheap," of course, has terrible connotations. I am "frugal."

(No, I'm definitely cheap.)

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Wednesday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by a Walkman.

Recommended Reading:

GLAAD: New York Times Does Not Retract Dehumanizing Coverage of Death of Trans Woman [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of transmisogyny, violence, and victim-blaming. See Monday's Blogaround for background.]

Dayvoe: A Birther Update

Christiane: Dresscode: Blue Tie and Male [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of misogyny.]

John: Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is

Lily: The HAES Files: Uncommon Knowledge about Changes in Body Weight, Part One and The HAES Files: Uncommon Knowledge about Changes in Body Weight, Part Two [Content Note: The posts at these links include discussion of narratives associated with "the obesity epidemic" and fat hatred.]

Digby: Dana Does It Again [Content Note: The post at this link includes misogyny and discussion of bullying.]

Pam: Thoughts about the NYT's 'Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?' [Content Note: The post at this link contains a description of animal cruelty.]

Fannie: Statistics of the Day

Mannion: Once upon a time there was this person I used to know as Me.

Andrew: Freedom To Marry And SLDN Explain DOMA's Impact On Military Families [Video]

Soraya: The Avengers: Are We Exporting Media Sexism or Importing It?

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Simple Plan: "I'm Just A Kid"

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BushQuotes!

Whoooooooooooooooooops I forgot to do BushQuotes! yesterday, so here are two for the price of one:

Chapter 3, page 34: "Heading toward fall, the campaign [for governor] was building momentum. Then came the photo that went round the world. Me, in blue jeans, khaki shirt, and hunting vest, holding a shotgun in one hand and the wrong bird in the other."

I remember the photo he's referencing, but I couldn't find a copy of it after at least five solid seconds of searching, so please enjoy this classic Bush With Bird image in its stead:

And thus heralds the gun portion of the chapter. Yippee, etc. Privilege and Ammo.

[Content Note: Guns; rape culture.]

Chapter 3, page 35: "Governor Richards had been criticized for vetoing a referendum that would have allowed Texans to express their opinion on a conceal-and-carry law. I argued that Texas should have this law. I knew that many law-abiding citizens, including many women who worked late at night or alone, were carrying weapons to protect themselves."

Conservative politicians always say this: They know shitloads of ladies who are packing heat to defend themselves on the job. But, despite having not a few female friends who are conservative and/or gun owners, including some who have been sexually assaulted (which is the implied crime against which women need to carry weapons to protect themselves), I have never known a woman who routinely carries a weapon. I'm not saying it never happens, and I'm sure some flesh-and-blood women carry weapons for self-defense, but do "many" women not made out of straw really do this? I suspect not.

On the other hand, many (for realz) conservative male politicians argue, without a hint of compunction, that women should be allowed to carry concealed weapons in order that they might defend themselves against rapists, even though a woman is more likely to be raped at gunpoint than successfully use a gun to deter a rapist.

And that's not because women are shrinking violets who can't handle weaponry: It's because women are exponentially more likely to be raped by someone they know, in a familiar space, than by a stranger. And it's not all that easy for any human being to shoot someone they know, even when that person is hurting them.

Women also tend to have some intuitive sense, if they don't explicitly know, that women who use violence to defend themselves are often punished for it. Men like Bush say they want women to defend themselves by any means necessary, but, when it comes right down to it, they don't. It's the same old "he said, she said," except now she's not just "crying rape," as the apologists like to say, but "claiming rape as a justification for hurting an innocent man." See how that works?

There are so many fallacies underlying what a swell idea it is for women to carry concealed weapons. Using women to justify carry-and-conceal laws is audaciously exploitative, and fucking stupid to boot.

[From George Bush's A Charge to Keep, gifted to me by Deeky, because he hates me. In the US, all people who plan to run for president write a shitty book. (Some are less shitty than others, by which I mean the Democrats' books.) A Charge to Keep was George W. Bush's shitty I-wanna-be-president book, published in 1999. I am blogging one random quote per page every day until I have either made my way through the book or lost it behind a couch.]

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Generally Horrendo

I have the GREATEST election news for you today! It turns out that Mitt Romney is terrible, and President Obama is less terrible! Pretty amazing, right? Thanks to the We're Doomed News for that breaking coverage of these important stories!

Now that we're still fully one million months away from the election, it's time that we start paying close attention to polls that will definitely not change between now and November. We should definitely obsess over them and act like they are very important, okay? Okay!

Fox News: Alarm Grows Among Dems About Obama's Chances. OH NOES! "It has taken months of bad news, but Democrats increasingly believe that President Obama might just lose his re-election bid. The latest wake-up call comes in the form of a New York Times/CBS poll showing Republican Mitt Romney in the lead." Ha ha great reporting. Very professional.

But wait! What's this?!

Gallup: Americans See Obama as Solid Favorite to Win Election. OMG! "Fifty-six percent of Americans think Barack Obama will win the 2012 presidential election, compared with 36% who think Mitt Romney will win. Democrats are more likely to believe that Obama will win than Republicans are to believe Romney will. Independents are nearly twice as likely to think that Obama, rather than Romney, will prevail." Well, that's very interesting, but if what "Americans" think mattered, we would let their votes decide elections, now wouldn't we?

Let's turn it over to Professional Polling Genius Nate Silver...

FiveThirtyEight: A 30,000-Foot View on the Presidential Race:

Although we are getting to the point where these national polls are at least worth a passing glance, it is still also worth paying attention to Mr. Obama's approval rating. These have a history of predicting electoral outcomes at least as closely as head-to-head polls in the early stages of the race, especially for incumbent presidents.

Mr. Obama's approval ratings have not moved all that much. For the last month or two, they have been essentially even. Right now, in the RealClearPolitics average, 48.3 percent of Americans approve of the job that Mr. Obama is doing, and 48.6 percent disapprove.

A president can get re-elected with numbers like those. Obviously, he can also lose.

Welp, you heard it here first, Shakers! Barack Obama is either going to WIN or LOSE the election!

One of my top secret sources informs me, which I have not yet confirmed, that it is very likely Mitt Romney will also either win or lose the election.

Trenchant stuff, my friends.

In other news...

Obama will be meeting with small business owners today, who, as we know, are rhetorically the most important people in the nation.

Romney thinks that Obama has a "beef" with Bill Clinton. (That's what she said.)

And Karl Rove's SuperPAC will be "spending $25 million on television ads this month—the same amount as the Obama campaign." That sounds about right for a healthy democracy lulz.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Open Thread

Hosted by the Burger Thing.

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Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker j0lt, via email: How do you reward yourself after completing a difficult task?

j0lt says: "My answer, in treating myself after doing some hideously grimy job, is to take a hot shower while drinking a cold beer—delicious and relaxing!"

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Big Fat Love

[Content Note: Fat hatred, body policing, food policing, bullying.]

I know I've said this before, though only on Twitter, but, because I'm seeing a disproportionate amount of shit being flung at fat people—and when it's remarkably more than usual that is SO MUCH SHIT!—as a result of HBO's garbage documentary, The Weight of the Nation, the first part of which aired last night and the second part of which airs tonight, I'm going to say it again: I like fat people.

Naturally, I wouldn't really like every fat person, but in the interest of providing a tiny bit of counterbalance to all the people who blanketly hate us, without shame or censor, I want to say in opposition: I like fatties.

I like my fat friends. I like my fat family members. I like my fat colleagues. I like my fat acquaintances. I like my fat neighbors. I like the fat members of this community. I like your fat partners and your fat kids and your fat friends, too. I like the fat people I see walking their dogs. I like the fat people I see at the grocery store. I like the fat people I see at the movies. I like the fat people I see at restaurants, on the local trails, at the vet, at the corner store picking up milk. I like the fat lady who told me, when I went out shopping in a sleeveless shirt on a hot day for the first time in my life at 38 years old, "I like your shirt!" And I love my fat self.

And there are people reading this, privileged people, who don't understand what it's like to live in a body like mine, who are thinking: Of course you like fat people. You're fat.

Because they don't know. They don't know the self-hatred to which we are exhorted in big and small ways, and how it can turn into hatred of other fat people. They don't know the ways in which the shaming, the bullying, the body policing, the rank hatred, the disgust disguised as concern can make a fat person maintain a physical and psychological distance from other fat people, especially people just that much fatter, because we are keenly aware that proximity is guilt and grotesquery by association. They don't know the contemptuous stares of patrons at a cafe when two fat people walk in together, or, Maude forbid, even more of us, like some kind of freakish human herd that storms across the countryside devouring the resources that belong to decent folk.

They don't know how difficult it is to hate yourself as much as this culture tells us we should hate ourselves for being fat, but love other fat people.

The self-acceptance, self-confidence, and self-love that allows fat people to really embrace and adore one another are hard-won—and, because those precious commodities remain elusive for so many fat people, it is not by any means axiomatic that fat people like other fat people.

We internalize the same narratives of moral weakness, of inferior character, of laziness, slovenliness, gluttony, ugliness. We have all the same reasons to hate fat people (including ourselves) as people who are not fat—plus the additional reasons of futile self-preservation described above.

We are discouraged from liking one another.

Even though we are often each other's most reliable safe spaces, fiercest champions, least judgmental allies, dearest friends with the boundless capacity to understand the nature of fat hatred, to recognize the challenges of Living While Fat, we are discouraged from liking one another.

And, of course, everyone else is discouraged from liking us, too.

Well, fuck that.

My fellow fatsronauts: Maybe your parents police your body, maybe your partner comments on your eating habits, maybe your boss passes you over for promotions, maybe your coworkers make snide comments about your weight, maybe your thin friends passive-aggressively use your weight to make themselves feel better about their insecurities, maybe strangers say awful shit to you, and maybe you have days where it feels like you are truly, hopelessly, resoundingly unlovable, just because you're fat.

It isn't so. I love the fuck out of you.

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Assumption Junction, what's your function?*

During a relatively recent visit with some family members, the discussion turned to reproductive rights. I didn't shy away from my own beliefs on the topic and our house guest (who generally seemed to agree with me) came away surprised. Granted this person does not know me very well, being a member of the family for a short time before we moved across the country over six years ago (and, uh, not on Facebook or Twitter). But what they said was that they "never would have thought" that I'd be pro-choice/autonomy/access "because (vague waving of hands at our house) the four children...and all."

So you know, the "and all" is a reference to the fact that I was pregnant with our first child when I was nineteen.

But it's an interesting assumption, isn't it? In this particular case, the guest admitted (to my questioning raised eyebrows) they assumed that I'd be more like my sister-in-law who also has four children--and is anti-choice. Not that my sister-in-law and I are a lot alike in other ways or had been especially close: our common denominator in this case is the fact that we have four children.

When I became pregnant at nineteen, there were a lot of thoughts that went through my head (the very first, I recall, being "HOLY SHIT") but almost none were about abortion. While I had many textbook stereotypical reasons to choose abortion (being very young, broke, in college AND working full time as a waitress), it was never an option I considered as a viable one for me then. You see, it wasn't until I had children and was actively parenting that abortion became an option that I might consider in a non-emergent situation. Namely because I value my current children and I value myself & my contribution to their lives.

Greater than 60% of people who have abortions already have children. This belies the canard that anti-choicers attempt to sell: that people who have abortions and/or people who advocate for autonomy & access to abortion care do so because we do not "value life" or that the sort of person who might have an abortion "hates children". No. It's because we care about the existing, current lives of people and many of us actually like children (irrespective of actually having any personally).






* Because it's totally in your head now.

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Romney Gets the Coveted Dubya Endorsement

"HA HA YEAH! This guy RULES! We're BFFs! And someday he will definitely return the enthusiasm I am showing right now, right? Right, George? Heyyyyyyy! Everybody! Bushisthebest! Wooooooo!"
For those of you holding out to see who George W. Bush endorsed before selecting to which candidate to donate your millions of free speech vouchers, he has endorsed Mitt Romney.

And it doesn't get more awesome than this in the ol' endorsement game:

"I'm for Mitt Romney," Bush told ABC News this morning as the doors of an elevator closed on him.

Perfect. Solid endorsement of a terrific candidate by a great man.

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Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Capital punishment; police misconduct; racism.]

"Unfortunately, the flaws in the system that wrongfully convicted and executed DeLuna—faulty eyewitness testimony, shoddy legal representation and prosecutorial misconduct—continue to send innocent men to their death today."—From a statement accompanying "Los Tocayos Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution," a report produced by Columbia School of Law Professor James Liebman and five of his students after nearly five years of investigation into the arrest, conviction, and eventual execution of Carlos DeLuna for the February 1983 murder of Wanda Lopez in Corpus Christi, Texas.

DeLuna was, in fact, not guilty of the crime. He was executed by lethal injection in 1989 following a "hasty trial."

[H/T to @bradplumer.]

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In Curious Things, Part Two

Part One is here.

I've recently noticed a very pervasive and insidious conveyance of misogyny: The use of light synonyms for "woman" (girl, lady, sister, gal) to communicate "hold this female person blameless" and the use of "woman" to communicate "hold this female person responsible."

So, let's say someone got a haircut, and the female stylist cut it too short. If that someone wanted to communicate zie isn't mad at the stylist, it was just a miscommunication, no harm no foul, but still convey zie's unhappy with the cut, zie might say: "The gal at the salon cut it too short."

If, however, that someone wanted to communicate zie is unhappy with the stylist and holds her wholly responsible for the too-short cut, zie will likely say: "The woman at the salon cut it too short."

In the latter case, I'm not even talking about someone who is so pissed zie's on the verge of a slur. I just mean someone who isn't feeling particularly inclined toward niceties while sharing the story.

What I've observed is that we intuitively infer a kinder disposition toward a female person described as a gal, or a girl, or lady, or a sister, than we do toward a female person described as a woman.

Yikes.

And the thing is, I find myself doing it, too, occasionally using those unencumbered synonyms, not because I think "woman" is synonymous for some manifestation of less than, but because I am intuitively aware that other people do.

I'm really going to try not to do that anymore.

[Commenting Note: As with all posts that encourage readers to reflect upon how language entrenches oppressions, please recognize that immediate impulses to share exceptions and/or say you've never heard anyone do that often come from a place of privilege. Take care not to silence or derail.]

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Daily Dose of Cute

"I am the Minister of Funny Positions!"


"I am Superdog!"


"Let's both lie in funny positions!"          "Yes, let's!"


Winners: Awkward Position-a-thon 2012.

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Generally Horrible

If you are still maintaining maximum enthusiasm for the TOTALLY EXCITING and VERY AWESOME and HOLY SHIT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME THIS WILL DECIDE THE COURSE OF OUR NATION AND WE'RE MAKING GAY JOKES OMFG election, please check this box: □

In breaking news today, Mitt Romney is terrible and President Barack Obama is less terrible. Read all about it in today's FutureFuck Times-Picayune!

As you may have heard, Mitt Romney is a bully, so it makes sense that he would make inappropriate garbage jokes about President Clinton's private sex life. Especially the sorts of jokes that imply Clinton's a piece of shit and Romney is awesome.

Mr. Romney, there are lots of men who were TERRIBLE MONSTERS but never cheated on their wives! Like Hitler! (That's definitely a perfect Hitler reference.) And I'm not saying that cheating on a spouse is an ethically neutral thing, because betrayals of trust are pretty evidently bad, but I do really hate when men point and laugh at other men for cheating and make it about the dirty, naughty, scandalous SEX he had with someone other than his WIFE, which at best plays on the tired virgin-whore dichotomy of wives and mistresses, and, in the worst cases (LIKE THIS ONE) suggests that the real issue is how a man who cheats doesn't know how to take care of his property.

I dunno, Mitt Romney, I just think there's a way to address the ethical failure of personal betrayals without making it sound like the equivalent of "I would never use anything less than premium gasoline in my gold-plated moonmobile!" But maybe that's just me.

In other news, Obama says Romney is worse than John McCain. And, I can't believe I'm saying this because everyone knows I hate John McCain with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns, but I think the President is right. Romney probably is even worse than McCain. Which seems impossible since John McCain is the worst, but I guess Mitt Romney is the worstest.

Finally! Please let the following three stories perfectly underscore why the Democratic Party is a spineless shambles and this country is totally fucked:

1. JPMorgan Chase Executive Resigns in Trading Debacle: "Stung by a huge trading loss, JPMorgan Chase will replace three top traders starting Monday, including one of the top women on Wall Street, in an effort to stem the ire that the bank faces from regulators and investors. They are the first departures of leading officials since Jamie Dimon, the chief executive, disclosed the bank’s stunning $2 billion loss on Thursday."

2. Obama: JPMorgan Exemplifies Need for Reform: "Just hours after a top JPMorgan Chase executive retired in the wake of a stunning $2 billion trading loss, President Obama told the hosts of ABC's 'The View' that the bank's risky bets exemplified the need for Wall Street reform. 'JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is. Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost $2 billion and counting,' the president said."

3. Obama Courts Private Equity Cash at New York Fundraiser: "On the same day his campaign launched an attack on Mitt Romney's record in private equity, President Obama is attending a big-dollar fundraiser at the Manhattan home of one of the industry's top figures. Hamilton 'Tony' James—the president of the Blackstone Group, the nation's largest private equity firm—is hosting a $35,800-a-head dinner for Obama, with 60 Democratic allies expected to attend, according to a campaign official. Many in attendance are expected to have ties to the private equity sector. ... The Obama campaign has been critical of other Blackstone executives—those who have donated to Mitt Romney's campaign—accusing them of 'betting against America' and doing 'less-than-reputable' deals that resulted in outsourcing and layoffs. It has not singled out James for criticism, though the company profited from many of those practices under his leadership."

Whooooooooooooooooops you cannot reform Wall Street when you need Wall Street to win and Wall Street does not want to be reformed. If only Wall Street didn't have SO MUCH MORE FREE SPEECH than the rest of America!

In good news for the President and for progress: "A well-known, openly gay supporter of Mitt Romney in New York has decided to withdraw his support for Romney and back President Barack Obama instead." Well, whaddaya know.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Britney Spears: "Boys"

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Trayvon Martin Updates

[Content Note: Racism, violence, capital punishment.]

Two stories of note:

1. FBI may charge George Zimmerman with hate crime: "State prosecutors said Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, profiled and stalked 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before killing him, so the FBI is now looking into charging him with a hate crime. ... FBI investigators are actively questioning witnesses in the retreat at the Twin Lakes neighborhood, seeking evidence for a possible federal hate crime charge." If Zimmerman was charged with and convicted of a federal hate crime, he would potentially face the death penalty.

2. George Zimmerman prosecutors file list of witnesses, evidence in Trayvon Martin shooting: "Most names were redacted from the witness and evidence document obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, but six civilian witnesses were named: Trayvon's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin; his brother, Jahvarius Fulton; and Zimmerman's neighbor Frank Taaffe, friend Joe Oliver and father, Robert Zimmerman. The document listed 18 Sanford police officers as primary witnesses, including lead Investigator Chris Serino."

And in related news: Autopsy Shows African-American Teen Kendrec McDade Was Shot Seven Times By Police. It's not just Stand Your Ground laws we've got to worry about, of course. There's an entire culture of racist violence that we've got to meaningfully address as a nation. I just really wonder when the fuck we might get around to doing that. By which I mean: When the privileged white majority might start fucking listening to the people who have been trying to have that conversation for hundreds of years.

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"A Machine Beauty"

[Content Note: Injury; illness.]

This is an interesting piece in the New York Times about advanced prosthetics and the cultural shift in attitudes about prosthetic limbs.

There's a lot of thought-provoking stuff there, often in what isn't explicitly discussed: The privilege of having access to these medical advances, for instance, and the casual mentions of family members who are "confused" and "unenthusiastic" about procedures that scale back limbs to open prosthetic options, reflecting larger cultural pressures that create tension for lots of people with disabilities between "looking normal" and functioning at maximum capacity.

I loved this:

While the loss of a limb remains a medical trauma, many amputees have come to embrace their bionic enhancements. Many "have little desire for the artificial limb to look human," said Hugh Herr, who heads the biomechatronics research group at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is developing wearable robotic devices. "They want it to look interesting and have a machine beauty."

I understand absolutely why some people want their prosthetics to look "real," and I understand absolutely why some people want their prosthetics to have "a machine beauty." I love that there is increasingly space for both. It's cool that trailblazers (pun intended) like Oscar Pistorius have made a space in our visual culture where the beauty of prosthetic technology can be appreciated.

Oscar Pistorius runs with the relay baton during day 2 of the Yellow Pages South African Senior Championship at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University on April 14, 2012 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. [Getty Images]

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I Write Letters

Dear US Cable News Media:

If you are discussing reproductive rights, include at least one woman on your panel.

If you are discussing LGBTQI rights, include at least one member of the LGBTQI community on your panel.

If you discussing a race-related issue, include at least one person of color on your panel.

Basically, what I'm saying is: If you are discussing a news item about a marginalized demographic, include at least one and preferably more member(s) of that demographic on your panel.

I mean, sure, we all love seeing straight white cis men opine on everything, especially things which do not affect them and of which they have no personal experience. It never gets old seeing straight white cis men talk about "women" and "black people" and "gays" like they are mutually exclusive monoliths.

But even though we love it—AND WE DEFINITELY LOVE IT—it kind of makes you look like fucking jackasses to continue to discuss the concerns, needs, desires, lives of marginalized people without letting us have a voice at the table, thus actively participating in our oppression even as you give space and time to jerkbags who yammer endlessly about bootstraps and suggest that women don't want to participate because they want to be mommies, and gay people can't participate because Jesus, and people of color aren't participating because insert the latest evo psych Bell Curve fast twitch pop science theory to avoid talking about centuries-old systemic racism here.

Failing your commitment to meaningful inclusion, just stop talking about us and our shit. No one gives a tiny infinitesimal fuck what Reince Priebus has to say about marriage equality, or what George Will has to say about Trayvon Martin, or what Bill Kristol has to say about what happens in any person's uterus. That shit isn't helping. It's counterproductive.

I'm frankly tired as hell of seeing careers made by publicly and shamelessly trading on privilege to more deeply entrench oppressions. If you're going to silence and disappear us, then do us all a favor and stop turning our issues into platforms to elevate the profiles of pontificating gasbags who mistakenly believe that their privilege makes them more objective.

If you need help identifying any of the thousands of qualified commentators from marginalized communities, just let me know. I'm happy to help.

Contemptuously,
Liss

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